/m/rays

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It doesn't make sense that fans would care what a team spends on players, just that those players performed. I can understand feelings about the salaries of a specific player, in that big money spent on crappy players either means resources that can't be spent elsewhere, or that player being given more playing time than he deserves.

If MLB salaries were kept completely confidential, would A's fans enjoy this season less? Would Yankee fans enjoy it more?

Obviously in such a world you'd have some idea the Yankees were spending more, they have more star players with 6+ years of experience, news of A-Rod's condo sale price, and you'd presume that Sabathia, Texiera, etc. didn't go to NY for pay cuts. But you'd have no hard numbers, probably no idea of the magnitude that the Yankees payroll advantage.

It doesn't make sense that fans would care what a team spends on players

And yet over and over and over, I have seen RSox fans quibble as if some great victory has been achieved if a guy lives up to his contract, and sell their children rather than get caught on the tail end of a guy getting older.

I've even seen people say "The Sox should NEVER offer a 99 mill+ contract again."

October, 1st. 2012.
Henry: "Well Larry, they bought our 'August Surprise' hook, line and sinker...of course going 5-40 has kind of taken the edge off that."

The Rays didn't have the ability or cash to get the most expensive types of free agents - left handed starting pitchers (see Santana, Lee, Sabathia, Wilson). They drafted and developed them in their system for a fraction of the cost.

And yet over and over and over, I have seen RSox fans quibble as if some great victory has been achieved if a guy lives up to his contract, and sell their children rather than get caught on the tail end of a guy getting older.

You're crazy. Red Sox fans don't like overpaying because it means there's a budget and the more you spend on bad players the less you can spend on good ones.

You're crazy. Red Sox fans don't like overpaying because it means there's a budget and the more you spend on bad players the less you can spend on good ones.

Eh, I think there's plenty of Red Sox fans that gripe about overpaid players, and not for team budgetary reasons--or because they care about Henry's bank account. It just pisses them off if someone's making a shitton of money and not doing a very good job.

AROM in #11 catches my feelings exactly. I'm generally aware that Michael Young has earned a lot over a long time and not been an extremely good player in the bargain, though my usual response to that is to hope he'll do better. The other Rangers, I really have no idea what their salaries are, or what the total payroll is. I would reckon that the answer is "a lot" and "a lot" in both cases. They seem to have paid a lot of money for Yu Darwish. That's cool. Now play ball.